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A review by larabobara
Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing
3.0
What a strange read!
I must admit that I was a little intimidated to read it. Let's face it: the whole Author Was A 2007 Nobel Laureate thing is a bit overwhelming for a girl whose last couple reads were a YA novel and a poorly written mystery. For the first half, at least, though, the book is downright delightful. I loved it - I was ready to go out and read everything Doris Lessing has ever written. Then, abruptly, the beautiful fiction ends and some seemingly random nonfiction begins. The book jacket tells me that the book is about Lessing's parents - the first half is what their lives would have been like if there had been no war, and the second half is an examination of what their lives really were like. Um, okay....but I don't know of many readers who can switch gears like that or who would want to even if they could. Besides, the nonfiction part...well, I'm not quite sure what to say about it. The part that really was an examination of Lessing's parents' lives felt a bit dull. (Then again, that could have been because I absolutely didn't want to leave the fiction part.) The thing is, though, that part of non-fiction section wasn't really about the parents at all and was almost more like an autobiography.
I'm wondering - was this book simply over my literary head? Did other people find this to be a tour de force of sorts? To me, it was just kind of weird.
Don't get me wrong - I still want to try a few more of Lessing's books, but I'll stick with the full-fledged fiction ones, thankyouverymuch.
I must admit that I was a little intimidated to read it. Let's face it: the whole Author Was A 2007 Nobel Laureate thing is a bit overwhelming for a girl whose last couple reads were a YA novel and a poorly written mystery. For the first half, at least, though, the book is downright delightful. I loved it - I was ready to go out and read everything Doris Lessing has ever written. Then, abruptly, the beautiful fiction ends and some seemingly random nonfiction begins. The book jacket tells me that the book is about Lessing's parents - the first half is what their lives would have been like if there had been no war, and the second half is an examination of what their lives really were like. Um, okay....but I don't know of many readers who can switch gears like that or who would want to even if they could. Besides, the nonfiction part...well, I'm not quite sure what to say about it. The part that really was an examination of Lessing's parents' lives felt a bit dull. (Then again, that could have been because I absolutely didn't want to leave the fiction part.) The thing is, though, that part of non-fiction section wasn't really about the parents at all and was almost more like an autobiography.
I'm wondering - was this book simply over my literary head? Did other people find this to be a tour de force of sorts? To me, it was just kind of weird.
Don't get me wrong - I still want to try a few more of Lessing's books, but I'll stick with the full-fledged fiction ones, thankyouverymuch.